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“I’m sorry if this costs the firm the contract,” he clarified.
“I’m going to get on the other line and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“I can talk to Campbell. This is my mess. Let me clean it up.”
“Cleaning up messes like this is why my name is on your paycheck. It’s my primary skillset. Your primary skillset is making sure clients are adequately prepared for every plausible threat. We’re going to play to our primary skillsets.”
Somehow, he got the words, “All right,” out through clenched teeth. He’d explain things to Sinclair.
“The good news for you, Maguire, is you’re wheels up, just how you like it. Barb’s booking you on the red-eye to Kauai as we speak. After that, go straight on to Seattle, as we originally planned for you to do when you finished things in Magnolia Grove.”
His plan? What a joke. He felt like a rudderless boat being swept away by rogue currents. Those currents were pulling him off the course he wanted to take, and there was very little he could do about it if he wanted to stay afloat. The situation couldn’t get any more fucked up. “Fine.”
“Look, shit happens, Maguire. I know you were conflicted about this job from the start. You didn’t have much interest in going back home, and maybe you were right. It’s not the place for you. Look on the bright side. Magnolia Grove is officially in your rearview mirror. You never have to set foot in that town again.”
Shane caught movement in the corner of his eye a second before an icy voice said, “Son of a bitch…”
He turned in time to see Sinclair whirl away from the passenger side window. Wrong again, Maguire. The situation just got more fucked up.
Chapter Seventeen
“Son of a bitch…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence. Too many words fought to get out at once, and they choked her. Somehow, despite blinding anger and a hemorrhaging heart, she managed to turn on her heel and start walking. Anywhere. Away.
Behind her, the Rover door slammed. “Sinclair.”
“No.” She didn’t turn around, didn’t slow her pace. If she stopped, she just might shatter to a million pieces right there in the stupid parking corridor between the post office and the dry cleaner. Sunlight slanted across the mouth of the alley, highlighting her escape. All she needed to do was get there.
“Sinclair.” A big hand closed around her arm. A flex of muscles made momentum her enemy and swung her around to face Shane. “Don’t walk away.”
“Why? Because that’s your move?” She took a step back, but he didn’t let go.
“Because I want to explain. I know how everything you just heard sounded—”
“Do you?” Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. “Explain this, Shane. Did you want to come back to Magnolia Grove?”
Something guilty flashed in his eyes, and she had her answer before he opened his mouth. “No,” he admitted.
Her blood heated to a boil. “That night we danced at my sister’s wedding, did you have any plan on staying?”
“No. Not then, but—”
“But you lied.” Pain sliced through her chest, and she tried to tug her arm free again. “You lied about a lot of things, didn’t you?”
“No.” He released her arm and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, it’s true I didn’t originally come back with any plans to stay. I expected to do the job and move on. But then I saw you again, spent time with you, and my plans changed.”
“Not from what I heard, they didn’t.”
He stared at the ground for a moment, expelled a breath, and then looked up at her. “I wanted to get this project across the finish line before discussing my change of plans with Haggerty.” His attention shifted to the alley wall, as if the century-old assemblage of bricks and mortar was the most fascinating thing in the world. “It’s a tricky situation.”
A sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob clawed its way out of her throat. “A tricky situation? You want to know about a tricky situation? Try mine. I’m thirty days from losing my home, I might be pregnant, and the man I was stupid enough to hand my heart to—again—is about to leave town. Again.”
Dammit. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. Shane’s expression froze.
“What?” He took a step toward her.
She took a step back. “I’m…about to lose my home.”
“Not that part.”
